Textures are an interesting band. Their music has been deemed (by them) to be "Polyrhythmic Metal Madness", and it's just that. I'm sure you've all heard
Meshuggah, or at least heard of their trademark polyrhythmic tomfoolery.
Textures are in the same vein of precise Metal, only, I believe they do it better. I know, it may seem blasphemous, but whenever I find myself trying to get into
Meshuggah I get more and more frustrated. Yes, it's impressive what they play, but to me it's not audibly appealing.
Textures on the other hand manage, and this is purely my opinion, to play their "Polyrhythmic Metal Madness" while still keeping it listenable.
Drawing Circles is the follow up to their critically acclaimed 2004 release
Polars, and while it essentially carries through the same idea, I feel it does everything that much better. The band's had two years between releases and it would seem they used it wisely; this album
IS that good.
Textures:
Jochem Jacobs -
Guitar, Vocals
Stef Broks -
Drums
Richard Rietdijk -
Synths
Dennis Aarts -
Bass
Eric Kalsbeek -
Vocals
Bart Hennephof -
Guitar
The Sound
The sound and general style of the album is both simple and complicated, meaning I could simply say it's complicated. This album, which features a new singer since their previous album, goes through many spectrums of progressive metal all the while remaining in their comfort zone of polyrhythmic madness. This is what would happen if
Devin Townsend joined
Meshuggah. Unlike many bands of this style, and they are ever increasing in number,
Textures do not rely on dissonance; the album has an copious amounts of melody, which is what I feel sets them apart. Amidst the polyrhythmic (I really need a synonym for this one and the thesaurus is not helping!) madness you will hear synthesized soundscapes accompanied by wonderfully executed clean vocals thanks to new singer
Eric Kalsbeek. The album is a cohesive journey through chaos and precision with little bits of soothing sounds thrown in the mix. It's one of those albums you don't need to skip because of it's varying sounds.
Denying Gravity has several styles of vocals, from
Jens Kidman like screaming to robotic like singing most evocative of
Paul Masvidal's electronically enhanced vocals on
Cynic's
Focus.
Illumination , the shortest track on the album (clocking in at 1:56) is perhaps the oddest sounding track on the album. Although it's merely an interlude, it features vocals reminiscent of Mike Patton being crooned over an ever-intensifying bass and keyboard line until you're instantly power-bombed (can you dig it?) into what the second half of the album, which I feel is the stronger of the two.
Lyrically, the album is entirely about the aim to reach perfection, an impossible feat. Impossible as it may be, this album is putting that theory to test. The band has managed to create something sonically heavy, vocally melodic; technical yet listenable. They've simultaneously gotten heavier as well as more melodically inclined. While it's evident they're part of an ever growing style of music, these guys are giving badns like
Meshuggah and
Coprofago a run for their money. For anyone who considers themselves to be a fan of complicated yet listenable music, I implore you to at least listen to the samples from this album; they can be found at the bands MySpace as well as on their official websites, the links are below. I look forward to see what these guys can do, but as I'm writing this (and this is what motivated me to write it), this is one of my favourite albums of 2006. These guys may just be the best
songwriters in the "math-metal" (for lack of a better term) style. I highly recommend this.
FINAL VERDICT
8/10
The band manages to create a chaotic, melodic album where every instrument is played flawlessly yet never become independently overbearing.
Textures are a refined unit of a band, a force to be reckoned with.
The road will be long but soon you'll get there...
Official Website: http://www.texturesband.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/textures
